Orange Order seek another march through Catholic area of Belfast

Women belonging to an Orange Order lodge march through BelfastDavid Moir/REUTERS

Sinn Féin representative Gerry Kelly has said the Orange Order clearly has not learned any lessons from the violence over the last few days and that they are doing damage to community relations and themselves.

The North Belfast MLA was responding after the Orange Order had applied for a parade past Ardoyne, Mountainview and the Dales, all Catholic areas, for this coming Saturday.

Gerry Kelly said:“The Orange Order said they were calling off their protests and yet we still have marches up to police lines at interfaces nightly and now this application to march on Saturday.

“Either they have called off their protests or they haven’t. All this application does is inflame the situation. Tensions need to de-escalate not increase but the Orange Order are still sending out the same confrontational messages.

“Is there anyone with sense in the Orange Order that is going to pull back from this and realise not only the damage that they are doing to community relations but also to their own organisation. Where is the leadership?”